Crime Blog

Funeral on Saturday for Lake Highlands teen hit by speeding driver

Riley Rawlins and his friends were walking away from a Sonic Drive-In where they had been hanging out when one of them realized he had forgotten something.

“He was going to go get it, but Riley said, ‘No, I’ll go,’” Riley’s great aunt, Glenda Gibbons, said. “That boy is a total wreck. He feels awful. He thinks it should have been him.”

It was about 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 7 when Riley, a junior at Lake Highland High School, was hit trying to cross Royal Lane at Audelia Road by a car that a witness said ran a red light at 70 miles per hour. The driver had no license or insurance.

Police say the car was traveling at more than twice the posted limit at impact. The boy was dragged 400 feet before the driver was able to stop, according to the police report. She told officers that she was on her way to work and was trying to beat a yellow light, although a witness at the scene told police that woman ran the red light, the police report said.

“The suspect stated that she did not have a driver’s license because it was too expensive and she had to take classes to get one,” the police report states.

Dallas police Sgt. Jerry Sanchez declined Friday to name the woman. “It’s under investigation, and we’re waiting to get back information on a couple of things,” he said. He would not elaborate, except to say that the lack of a license and insurance “is the least of this lady’s worries.”

Sanchez said that the case could be referred to a grand jury, which would decide whether to indict her for a crime. Detectives could also file charges against the woman directly, he said. Both would result in an arrest.

For now, Riley’s family is left with nothing but heartache and questions.

“Just because she was late to work, she took a life,” Gibbons said. She said she hopes police file criminal charges.

According to his family, Riley was Boy Scout who loved the outdoors. He also loved animals, and in lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or Dallas’ East Lake Pet Orphanage.

Riley’s real passion was his country. “He wanted to be a Marine,” Gibbons said. “They were waiting for him. He was in ROTC for two years. He had already been lifting weights and doing all that manly stuff. We’re just devastated by this.”